News of a DuckTales reboot was exciting enough, but the more details that emerge, the better it gets. The cartoon, which was hugely popular in the late eighties/early nineties, focused on Scrooge McDuck and his globe trotting adventures with his nephew Donald and grand-nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as well as their trusty pilot, Launchpad McQuack. The show was a massive hit for Disney and all things are pointing to the reboot being just as popular.
Set to air on Disney XD, the all new DuckTales will consist of 21 half hour episodes and two one hour specials, and the series will make its debut in summer, 2017. Contradicting the popular format for reboots, which try to make everything as modern as possible, DuckTales will keep the same traditional hand-drawn animated look of its predecessor - but has assembled an all-singing, all-dancing, all-star voice cast (literally).
Taking on the central role of Scrooge McDuck, is David Tennant. Tennant's name is known to many as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who and Killgrave in Marvel's Jessica Jones, and his body of work on stage and screen is vast. He has also done previous voice work for Disney, lending his talents to characters in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He has also provided the voice of Fugitoid in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Voicing the trio of mischievous grandnephews will be Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan as Huey, Dewey, and Louie, respectively. Pudi made his name on Community, and has most recently provided the voice for Brainy in Smurfs: The Lost Village, set to release next year. Schwartz will be known to many as Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation. The actor has also provided voice work for Bojack Horseman and has a long list of comedy work under his belt. Meanwhile, Moynihan also has a long history of comedic work, especially on Saturday Night Live. He also recently provided the voice of Mel in Secret Life of Pets. Another SNL alumn, Beck Bennett, will voice Launchpad McQuack.
Finally, Toks Olagundoye will play Mrs. Beakley, the housekeeper; and Kate Micucci will play Webby Vanderquack, both of whom will have much larger roles than in the original series. Olagundoye has appeared in The Neighbors and Castle, while Micucci has done a large amount of voice work, including on The SpongeBob Movie and for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series.
It's a great line-up, which is, perhaps, testament to how excited pretty much everyone is for this show to return. A lot of those who watched DuckTales as children are now adults with kids of their own, or nephews and nieces, who naturally need to be introduced to the DuckTales phenomenon. Best of all, though, and it really is the best thing ever, Disney have put together a video of the new voice cast singing the old familiar catchy theme tune, which you will now be singing all day. Woo-hoo!
DuckTales will air on Disney XD in summer, 2017.
Source: Disney XD